vulcan owner to concours questions

[texrider]

Take the deal, and don't look back. There is a glut of 900 Vulcan leftovers, with '09-'11 bikes going new at steep discounts. You cannot compete selling your used bike, my friend.

[freebird6]

Great subject.

I came off a Mean Streak. My first bike as I had given up flying and let my status lapse and put away my desire to bike while the kids were young and needed a pop around (my fathers words haunt me still). When it came time to follow my wants I took the Abate course and happened to have a 2007 Meanie fall in my lap for the cost of a friend's  paternity test and his legal fees. $3k for a bike with 4K miles and he wont ride till his daughter is 18. I put 25K on that bike between Indiana and ALL OVER SOutheast Ohio the first 18 months I had it. Tried to write down impressions and recap every ride and harshly critique so I could keep getting better. Found lots of helpful bikers along the way who gave great tips and the Mean Streak forum is a pretty nice bunch of guys.



I rode those months waiting for my significant other to keep up.....on her rather slow Bike..... as compared to the Meanie of course.....




I had ridden on the back on many bikes as a USAT Triathlon official including working 2 World Championships. I favored the BMW's and the owners groups I met with at Shapiros and up in Chicago and agonized every time I had to climb on the back of an HD as I knew a 1-300 mile day on a race course was going to leave me sore. After lusting for 20 years after the Beemer I saw a 2008 Connie sitting at a local dealer in SEO that was having trouble unloading it. We came to a very good price and I put 12k on it the first 4 months. I did keep the Meanie but getting on the Concours and riding was so very natural. I picked up riding skills much quicker on this bike. Where I felt I could not do certain things on the meanie this bike let me do them and more.  I am still going back and forth between her place in SEO and Muncie and really loving this bike. When I am over there I use the Meanie as the Concours just leaves her as a speck in the mirror and I can't take the Twisties of Ohio 78 and 56 through the Hocking Hills without using as much of the bike as I can......SOOOOOO....Since she can't stand over the Connie and I wanted her to feel the same thrill I have every time I get on the bike I found her a bargain for X mas that should keep us both much happer.....



After a run down to Indy to have the bike inspected even though the guy i bought it from has his picture inthe dictionary next to the word Anal......she put a sign on the Dyna Low and will never get back on it again exclaiming "this lets me do all those things i worked so hard to do but could never do on the Dyna" saying that "even taking a cloverleaf at speed is a thrill." I kind of knew things were going to be good when I looked back after passing the lone car in front of us and she was still there....as I edged up to the century mark watching the headlight in the mirror on a totally empty 4 lane she was holding steady on the proper stagger. Makes it all worth while....

I am still going to keep the Meanie as I have become accustomed to the feel of switching and enjoy the laid back ride at certain times.....but the Concours....that's a machine that calls my name each and every day. Hope you love yours as much.

[scooter]

i can relate too that, i have had much bigger bikes and much faster bikes in the past but the vulcan is a all around good bike for what i do.would you want to ride it too new york no not at all.it might be considered a beginer bike or learner bike but i dont consider it that, its light, has enough power and gets good mileage.yeah im not sure id want to ride it more than a couple hundred miles in a day,but ive done it. bottom line is its a cruiser and has no thrill factor at all.the concours seems to be fast and has alot of the latest tech stuff on it ,good for short trips and long too.i just dont want to do the 2 bike thing again,did that and its a nice luxurey but i cant afford it with insurance and all.my rule is my toys must be paid for the winters are too long to have a toy in the garage your making payments on that you cant ride.maybe thats weird but its much easier that way for me.so im still thinking on the deal offered by my dealer. from what you guys have said it sounds like he is making me a fair offer with the trade i just have to decide if i want to bite the bullet and just trade it in.cut my losses so to speak

[EpicBadass]

I went from a 08 Vulcan 900 Custom to the 09 Concours, and you sound pretty much exactly like i did before the change.  Needless to say I think you'll be very happy with it if you pull the trigger.  I never used to ride in the rain on the 900unless I really wanted to avoid traffic badly but now I ride it pretty much regardless of the weather unless its just straight up too dangerous.  I had wanted something sportier for a while, and I'd taken some larger cruisers out as well but they weren't even as fun as my 900 with all the bolt ons I had done.  I didn't really want a full on sport bike as I used to trade the Vulcan with my cousin for his ZX6R every now and again and it just wasn't as practical for me on a daily basis.  To give you an idea of how much I enjoy the bike I had to use it to jump start my jeep last summer since I hadn't driven in a long, long time.  Top it off I had to use the Jeep a short time later to jump my Supercharged S2000. 

Bottom line: You won't go wrong.

[W14]

The only other thing I would do is to search within driving distance to see if you are getting the best deal on your tradein and OTD purchase price for the C14. This is a good time of the year to buy and Kawasaki is offering a $1000 savings on 2011 and earlier models through January 31.

BTW, I moved from a 2009 Suzuki M90 (a great bike) to a 2009 C14 last year this time. 13.5K miles later, I have not looked back.

Good luck with your purchase.

Ride Safe.